1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus such as a copier or a printer.
2. Description of Related Art
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 3-77961 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 3-80258 have disclosed microcapsule fine particles in which coloring materials such as dye pigments and photo hardening materials are confined in the wall thereof and change their mechanical strength in responsive to light.
An image recording apparatus used with microcapsule toner is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,060,020. In this recording apparatus, after the microcapsule toner is exposed, only the microcapsule toner particles which are not hardened are ruptured by pressure applied thereto. Then, coloring materials confined in the microcapsule toner particles flow out. When the flowing coloring materials are transferred onto an image receiving paper, an image is formed on the image receiving paper.
The above image recording apparatus comprises toner supplying means for charging the microcapsule toner, supporting the charged microcapsule toner on carrying means and supplying the microcapsule toner onto drum by an electrostatic force. The apparatus also includes exposing means for exposing the microcapsule toner according to image information and microcapsule rupturing means for rupturing the microcapsules of the microcapsule toner to cause the coloring materials to flow from the microcapsule toner.
In the image recording apparatus, when the microcapsule toner particles are ruptured by the rupturing means, the walls of the microcapsule toner particles are transferred onto the image receiving paper as well as the contents such as the coloring materials. There has been a problem that a fine image result cannot be obtained due to the transfer of the walls onto the image receiving paper since the walls are not colorless or transparent.
In order to solve the above-mentioned and other problems, Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 05-61171 proposes preventing the wall of the microcapsule toner particles from moving onto the image receiving paper by covering adhesive materials on the image supporting part. This applicant has also proposed preventing the wall of the microcapsule toner particles from moving onto the image receiving paper by making the surface of the image supporting medium more rough than that of the image receiving material.
However, in the image recording apparatus with the above-mentioned structure, the walls of the microcapsules could not be prevented completely from moving to the image recording paper.
Moreover, there are various problems due to the adhesion of the contents of the microcapsules onto the drum. It has been desired that the contents never remain on the drum and that the walls of the microcapsule toner particles should be fixed on the drum.